Posted on 10/05/2012 1:53:27 AM PDT by tselatysr
By Mr. Curmudgeon:
To be perfectly honest, I didn't think Romney had it in him. The first presidential debate was a stunning wake-up call to President Obama and his gushing followers. Romney was in total command of the debate, hammering the incumbent on his failed economic policies, refusing to allow Obama to frame the debate with the usual Democratic Party bumper sticker talking points. Obama looked more like the challenger than a sitting president. Romney kept his square jaw up and facing the president, smiling - Reagan-like - while Obama hurled one tired charge after another.
Even the Obama media was forced to concede that Romney was the clear winner of Wednesday evening's verbal tussle. According to a CNN poll, 67% of their viewers declared Romney the winner, while 25% clung to fading hope and change. Worse, still, "35% said the debate made them more likely to vote for Romney while only 18% said the face-off made them more likely to vote to re-elect the president."
For my money, no post-debate analysis was better than the observation made by conservative columnist Ann Coulter during an appearance on Fox and Friends, "Obama was depressed and looking down," said Coulter, "you could see at the end of that debate he knew, [wedding] anniversary or not, Michelle wanted to go home with Mitt."
The Washington Post was refreshingly honest when it noted that Obama does not fare all that well without an assist from his pals in the mainstream media, "For better or worse, moderator Jim Lehrer largely let the candidates duke it out on their own terms - with almost-endless rebuttals. This [debate] format favored Romney."
For MSNBC host Chris Matthews, the leg thrill was gone. "Where was Obama tonight?" cried a disappointed Matthews, "He should watch - well, not just Hardball, Rachel [Maddow] ... he should watch the Reverend Al [Sharpton], he should watch Lawrence [O'Donnell], he would learn something about this debate."
Matthews fails to understand that Obama can't afford to sound like an escapee from a lunatic asylum. He is running for president, not a spot on a boutique, little-watched cable "news" network.
For me, the pivotal moment in the debate was when moderator Jim Lehrer asked both men for their view on the role of government. Obama said he would "start land grant colleges, because we want to give these gateways of opportunity for all Americans, because if all Americans are getting opportunity, we're all going to be better off." He also said he'd like to "hire another 100,000 math and science teachers ..."
Romney, on the other hand, got down to first principles: "First, life and liberty. We [government] have a responsibility to protect the lives and liberties of our people, and that means a military second to none. I do not believe in cutting our military. Second, in that line that says we are endowed by our creator with our rights ..."
That one exchange said it all. While the government has its fingers in everything from home mortgages to health care, Romney seems to understand that government's first duty is to secure our rights. But government is much too busy running our lives to protect the freedom that makes it worth living.
Big government vs. Individual Rights. That's the real debate - not tax rates, entitlements, education, wind and solar power.
So, thank you Mitt Romney for beginning a fundamental conversation about American fundamentals.
Article shared using the Free Republish tool on Tea Party Tribune.
Obama has so much low-hanging fruit of corruption and incompetence it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Really, if team Romney hadn’t been able to pick him off then you would have to wonder what the heck was wrong with them.
I have asked here long ago how can Obama debate anyone face to face with his dismal record and shameless performance as CIC. Obama should have just showed up in his golf clothes and gotten it over with.
There is so much more that Romney can hit him with so this should just be the beginning of his embarrassment in front of the American electorate.
Romney was very good and I look forward to seeing him continue to destroy the empty chair in the upcoming debates.
Now, on to the vice pres debates where Ryan will clobber the retarded Joe Biden.... Yeah, I did mean to say retarded.
Go back to view the Democratic debates of 2008. He performs at the same level as he did then. This is the best that he can deliver. In an average debate, with your opposition being average....he does ok. Romney didn’t get to this point in business....being an average debater.
Even if the moderators attempt to pull the debate back into a different direction....I think both Romney and Ryan are more than capable of taking on the moderators as well. It’s like some WWE-grudge match, where you have to take on the other guy in the ring, and the six guys outside the ring.
I don’t think people were prepared or expecting this kind of debate.
“Seeming meek” goes completely against his narcissistic nature. He didn’t plan his performance; he simply thought he was too good to prepare for it.
He hasn’t had to ‘prepare’ for anything in his whole life.
His coddled (some might say nefariously ‘guided’) upbringing, education and public office life has always been one of standing on his color and the backing he’s gotten from screening tacklers (media and otherwise) that clear the way for him.
The man who breezed through Columbia and Harvard, breezed into state office, US Senatorship and US Presidency via blame and the NOBEL prize all in the span a few years didn’t NEED preparation - He is god.
You summed it up better than I ever could have. Obama cruised through life on the “token system” and doesn’t realize that he never “earned” any of the positions or honors that he received. The one thing that actually makes him a victim is that he doesn’t know himself that he isn’t that smart and he doesn’t work that hard - his coddled existence made him buy into the spin that he is brilliant and likable even though it turns out that he is neither.
The way this race is going, Obama might be better off looking to land himself a slot on MSNBC.
Mmmmmmm........maybe.
But you have to wonder why seasoned journo Jim Lehrer was out of control.
Was Michele sending him love notes? Maybe looking for a threesome?
That...... or maybe Lehrer was aflutter b/c Van Jones was admiring Lehrer's ***.
As Mich Patriot insightfully wrote: "Gentle" is for laxatives. No need to bother with those debate night, because Obama had the sh!t BEATEN out of him.
BTW, Romney's already out w/ $30 T-shirts with Biden’s face and his now-famous quotation that the middle class “has been buried the last four years” .......replete w/ an “honest Joe” caption.
Mmmmmmm.....better give Joeboy couple laxatives....he lacerated Ohaha w/ such enthusiasm---was not "nice" at all.
Too, Romney has lulled the Obama team into believing Romney was just another weenie McCain. Truth is, McCain is another pol who has no executive experience, no leadership skills, no acquired toughness from making hard decisions. Romney, however, has had years of experience dealing with BS coming from shyster lawyers & lying competitors.
On social issues I am very leery of Romney, but I am convinced Romney is a highly competent leader & has the business experience to turn this economy around.
This article is from the Tea Party Tribune and I want to thank Pres. Obama because he created the Tea Party.
Ha “Shellacking”...more like electroplating.
Not really. Romney took charge and wouldn't let the moderator push him around.
Romney has learned from Newt that it is possible to be assertive without having the sky fall. The moderators of these debates are partisan lefties who also need to be verbally spanked.
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